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The main Canada Post office in the Federal Building is sporting a new streamlined look in order to address changing usage patterns of patrons said a Canada Post spokesperson. DIANA MARTIN/ THE CHATHAM DAILY NEWS/ QMI AGENCY

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Chatham’s revamped post office -- now a small-counter operation where it once took up most of an entire floor -- could be a model for dozens of others as Canada Post struggles in an e-mail world to follow its mandate to the letter.

“We’re doing business cases for a number of corporate postal outlets,” said Anick Losier, spokesperson for Canada Post.

Some of those could be re-configured as has happened in two communities in Ontario and Quebec, she said.

“For us, it’s really about being able to adjust ourselves to the new reality,” she said.

That reality includes a dramatic drop in the number of letters going through the system, the need for less physical space for post offices and a need to cut costs where possible.

In downtown Chatham, the flagship post office has now been re-vamped into a one-person, over-the-counter service.

Losier said Canada Post is in a time of massive transition but there’s no wide-scale plan to shrink or close corporate postal outlets in Canada.

But the union representing postal workers believes otherwise.

“They are re-aligning” as one way to torpedo the success of corporate sites." said Gerry Deveau, national representative for a region that covers most of Southern Ontario. In some areas, post offices are being moved from prominent locations into out-of-the-way spots with little visibility and little parking.

He fears the corporation will then make the case to close the same sites. “Canada Post is, in my view, encouraging people to go to private outlets,” which are not represented by CUPW, Deveau said.

He described Chatham’s recently renovated site as “just a small hole in the wall,” where a lone clerk behind a wicket greets customers.

“Now it’s one door, one person, big wall,” Deveau said.

He said there are often long lineups.

Chatham also has three privately run retail postal centres in addition to the corporate one.

Losier said a new contract with postal workers at corporate-run sites means staff might be redeployed but won’t lose their jobs.

Staffers at corporate Canada Post sites deliver postal service alone and aren’t also selling milk or headache medicine, Deveau said. “They understand the product, they understand the service, they understand the network and how it works.”

He described changes in the works -- including amended delivery methods and routes, fewer people at processing centres and not replacing workers who leave or retire -- as “probably the largest in the last 20 years.”

Losier said no number or timeline has been attached to the ongoing review, which will “certainly not” affect all 4,000 corporate sites.

With e-mails and apps taking over from paper mail, customers send two million fewer letters through the system each day than they did a year ago -- a 20% drop, Losier said.

Canada Post had net losses of $66 million during the first nine months of 2012.

“We are in the midst of the largest technological shift in the history of paper-based communications,” says a commentary accompanying the crown corporation’s 2012 third-quarter financial statement.

While financials in 2011 were hampered by a strike and lockout, 2012 was only marginally better. This year’s numbers don’t bode well either: Some utilities are offering bonuses to people who pay bills online, or tacking on a fee for people wanting paper bills. Government of Canada cheques are expected to transfer digitally to customers by 2014.

Canada Post is part of a 250-year-old legacy of mail delivery in Canada, Losier said. Adaptations in recent years include an app for mail tracking and postal code lookup, self-serve kiosks for people needing basic services and modernization of processing centres.

“The whole idea here is to keep our network” and to maintain service without burdening taxpayers, Losier said.

Canada Post quick numbers:

6,500 postal outlets offices: 4,000 owned by Canada Post and 2,500 privately operated (most as part of other retail operations) under contract to Canada Post

delivery to 15 million addresses

Average cost of mail delivery per address: $166

$7.5 billion in revenue

$61 million net loss for first nine months of 2012 alone (full-year amounts not yet tallied)

21 processing plants

69,000 letterboxes

7,800 fleet vehicles

111 million visits to canadapost.ca in 2011

How many billions of pieces of mail Canada Post delivered in...

2007: 11.8

2008: 11.8

2009: 10.8

2010: 10.6

2011: 10.1

THE COMMITMENT

Canada Post commits to having postal outlets that:

Are within 15 km for 98% of consumers and within 2.5 km for 78% of consumers

In the case of corporate sites, will not be closed, moved, amalgamated without a public meeting at least one month before the planned closing.